GDB 35.0 Wrap Up: Coyotes @ Oilers

Tonight is the last game the Oilers will play before Christmas. They have 3 games left in the 2014 calendar year. Why did we have to waste another one against the Arizona Coyotes? Not to mention with a start like the Oilers had. Frankly, I was ready to bail after the Oilers gave up 2 goals in the first 5 minutes. I was going to write this Wrap Up about something completely unrelated. Something like… the 2015 Ikea Spring catalog, carpet samples, or anything else that is generally more fun to do than watching an Oilers game.

As usual, one of the only good things about this game was Oilers Twitter. Without Twitter, and the fact that Oilers fans have the best sense of humour out there, these seasons would seem even longer than they already are. The best part of OilersNation is the fact that we’re all in this thing together. No one deserves to see wins more than Oilers fans, and those appear about as frequently as Halley’s Comet. Despite the continuous footballs to the groin, I love the fact that we’re all still watching. I admire the fact that Oilers fans have picked their poison, and are willing to live through the side effects.

No one deserves a break from NHL hockey more than Oilers fans. This season has been long, and we could all use the love and support of our family and friends, right about now. I hope you’re all able to take the next 3 days off from inhaling the fumes of failure that is the Oilers 2014-15 season. May you all have a Merry Christmas, a Happy Holiday, or whatever it is that you’re into. I will see you back here on Saturday night, as we all reunite to bitch about another night.

Until then, we wrap.

THE BRIGHT SIDE

Taylor Hall is still an Oiler… You eat your crow, Internet.

Twitter was great tonight.

I think we won the Corsi!

Punch all the faces!

THE FACE PALMERS

Since the start of the season, there has been 3 “head coaches.” For some reason, all 3 of them seem to think Justin Schultz and Brad Hunt are an NHL calibre defensive pairing.

Guess what? Another awful start. If these bad starts were pogs we’d have collected the whole set by now.

Ben Scrivens can use the Christmas break. He’s been battling the puck for the last few games, and we were all surprised that he was starting tonight. Didn’t last long though. He was pulled after letting in 2 goals on 3 shots.

Viktor Fasth wasn’t a whole lot better… He finished the night with an .842 save%.

Dubnyk wins again. I bet that he laughs at us every night before he goes to sleep.

The Oilers have 21 of a possible 70 points on the season. That is remarkable.

Show the world how hilarious you are. Tweet at @jsbmbaggedmilk and @OilersNation, on Twitter, for your chance to show up in the GDB Wrap Up. Internet glory is yours for the taking. In the very least you may get a few more followers.

THE #NATIONLIMO…

When you have tickets to the game, head to the Pint Downtown and you could win a ride to, and from, the game in a limo. On top of that, we’ll hook you up with some Nation swag and an Oodle Noodle GC. All you have to do is let the bartenders know that you want your name on the list. You should also note that this isn’t some special event, this is happening every home game. Write that down, take a screep cap, or lock it in your mind locker. It’s a good time, and you should be there.

I was given front row tix to the game, and since it was an early start, decided to take the kids to their first game. Turns out front row is a horrible place to watch the game – just too close… so, of course, we enjoyed the game!

Too bad, we had to wait almost the entire game to see a hit – Pitlick ratteled a ‘Yote about 3 seats from us… I think that was the only hit thrown by an Oiler all night…

My buddy, watching from home, suggested I throw my undies on the ice – a jersey just doesn’t send the right message. I was 6 seats down from the 1st jersey (there were 3 thrown last night) – dude stole my thunder. Doan was busy cleaning up the 2nd and 3rd Jerseys… local guy still has some pride in the logo, unlike current Oilers team.

We always talk about rock bottom but the Oilers are about a foot away from the actual bottom. without those two wins in 20 games they would have actually hit the bottom and can go no further. How sad is that.

I agree, trade for a ton of picks for this years draft and next years. That’s the easy part. Getting a whole new crew of GOOD NHL veterans to support the current and new young guys is the hard part.

Ference is clearly not the right captain for this club. If this all means Hall goes, Nuge Goes, Eberle ect. then so be it. Something’s gotta change NOW!

I absolutely disagree that Ference is the wrong captain for this team. He is one of the very few who ever seems to show any sort of pride or effort whatsoever. Postgame quotes:

Todd Nelson – “We took a step back tonight”. You think?

Eberle – “It’s definitely disappointing”. If I had a dollar for every time he or someone else said that and then came right back with the same lack of effort the next night, I would not need a job and would probably own an island somewhere. It’s just lip service at this point.

Ference – “It’s not right. It’s not excusable to not put up a couple of wins against these guys”. He’s right, it’s not excusable. The Coyotes are terrible and a 5-1 loss AT HOME against them should make the team so angry and embarrassed that they come out and just murder the next team they play. But unfortunately we can probably expect another soft effort against Calgary on Saturday.

I said this before, I’m going to rubbed it in……’ don’t trade gagner, or he’ll come back and haunt you!’ AND he did! You know what, it’s not the players doing, so I stopped blaming them long time ago, and they knew it…. so what do they do, they stopped playing!! Waiting for Katz to make the right move….. except that might never came, cause he probably has to ask his mom for advice, or his wife… except….

Lol, before last nights game, Gagner and Arcobello had the same amount of points. Gagner did last night what he always does, had a really good game surrounded by a bunch of mediocre ones. Swap Gagner and Arco and you have the same team. Gagner isn’t what the Oilers need.

Had this been a fight for the playoffs then yes, Gagner would have come back to bite us. This was a fight for last place and the Oilers won handily.

Sorry all, but i am going to yelp about Scrivens again and this so-called goalie coach that the Oilers employ.
Is this new goalie coach smart? Does he even watch the Oilers play the game? Because if he did, he’d most definitely work on Scrivens style of goaltending. He is always on his freaking knees. How in the hell can you play like that? Heck, even in amateur hockey you cannot play like that, a goalie must be on feet so that he can get square and set to the shooter when needed, and it’s pretty hard to square yourself and get set when you’re sliding around on your pads, & when you need to get square and set to the shooter, well, he is shooting the puck or already shot it by the time Scrivens is getting off of his pads and onto to his feet, & what happens, SUNBURN as that little red light keeps going off. I don’t care who the hell you are, you must get square and set to the shooter to stop the majority of the shots. Even Hasek squared himself up to shooters, yes he flopped about like a seal out of water but that was always on rebounds and his fight to keep the puck out of the net.
Look @ the best who have played the game, every single one of the squared themselves up and got set to the shooter, even Roy who is widely considered to be the one who brought in the “new” style, he was on his feet, set & squared & then dropped to his knees in the butterfly. Roy wasn’t sliding from side to side, or from the side of the net to the top of the crease, rather Roy pushed off with skate, and was on his blades when he got to the top of the crease.
This new so-called goalie coach should recognize this, he gets paid large bucks to notice this stuff and it is sad that he doesn’t, or maybe he does. I don’t know, but perhaps one the writers should ask the coaching staff, or the goalie coach when they are asking their questions.
Even look @ goalies now days who are considered butterfly goalies, like Miller, Lundqvist & Quick. Yes they all go down a lot, but they aren’t sliding all over. Scrivens will even slide on his knees when his d-men pass from corner to corner…He has to stay his feet more often…
Writers, ask the coaching staff about this. Ask if they plan on “tinkering” with Ben’s style?
Look @ his best games as an Oiler, he is on his feet more, he is squared & set, not sliding about…

The last 45 games will be painful to watch……..but I like watching a slow train wreck.

The best part of the game is watching MacT’s facial expressions. This will be a very valuable learning experience for MacT but the real problem is which teams out there will want to trade with the Oilers?

I suspect none and if they do they will try to rob us blind. Finding UFA that want to come here……forget about it! What we have here folks is probably what we will see next year.

I wonder if Garth Snow is available? Once the laughing stock of the NHL they have now become a serious team……..we dream on!

When the game came on, I received a Christmas Hello from My 90 Year Old Aunt from San. Diego. 90! Still smart as a whip, but she ‘hates’ to complain about her hip..I tell her that she has the right to complain a little. Anywho, we talked and got caught up on different things, and by the time I got off the phone the Oilers were already down 2 nothing. Scrivens pulled…wtf? Heck, my beer was still cold and the game was already down the toilet.
You know what I want for the New Year from the Oilers? Playoffs? The Cup? Wins? I want to see some IMPROVEMENT, New Scouts, Smart Trades, A proven Coach, no Nepotism!
Thank You and Merry Christmas to all the Patient, devoted Oiler fans everywhere.HO! HO! Ho! 🙂